Method of locating an operator working any line



Oct. 4, 1932. w. B. BLANTON 1,880,724

METHOD OF LOCATING AN OPERATOR WORKING ANY LINE l Filed sept. 21, 1951 amante@ hx G Umb Patented' Oct. 4, 1932 warrenA sraras WILLIAM: IB. BLANTON, OF WESTFIELD, NEW JERSEY, ASSGNOR T0 THE WESTERN UNION TELEGRAPH COMPANY, OFNEW YORK, N. Y., A CORPORATION OF YORK METHOD or tocarme an OPERATOR woaKrNe .any `LINE Application filed September 21, 1931.

' This invention relates tothe handling of traiiic at a concentration unit or central sta-r tion where a larger number of telegraph lines from outlying branch stations or sub-stations are terminated before a small number of operators so that the traino of those lines may be handled by a small number of simplex printers. y l

Messages which are received at the central station for transmission or retransmission over the various lines to the different Vbranch stations are received at a message distributing center from which they are taken to the operators by delivery girls or messengers. At the message distributing center there is located a rack, for the reception of the messages, having a compartment designated for each branch office connected to the concentration unit.V In order that the messages may be transmitted with the least delay it is desirable to 'have them taken from themessage distributing center directly to' an operator who is working the line of the branch station to which the message is directed if that line is in operation at that instant.

The object of my invention is to provide a method of quickly locating the operator who is at any moment working any particular line and to provide means for producing the required visual indications.V

As one means of accomplishing.' this purpose I provide a llamp and a key or switch in association with each compartment of the message receiving rack at the distributing center. The lamp is termed a busy lamp and is automatically lighted when a line is busy. I also provide near the routing rack an operators lamp bank containing one lamp for each operating position and furthermore I provide a lamp at each operators position, these Vlamps being controlled by the key or switch at the distributing center. If a Inessage for line 1,1for instance, should be placed in the compartment associated withthis line, the delivery girl notes, by observing the corresponding busy lamp, whether this line is idle or busy. If the busy lamp is lighted she is then able to ascertain at once which operator is working this line by simply depressing the key designated for this' line. This Serial No. 564,212.

causes two lampsassociated with the operators position from which the line is beingv worked to light, one lamp being located at the message distributing 'center'in the operators lamp bank and the other lamp being located at the operators position. Y The lighting of the lampat the operators position warns her that more business is on the way and that she should hold the line until it are rives. f y' `My invention will be more fully understood from the following detailed description in connection with the accompanying drawing which is a circuit diagram showing its lapplication to the concentration unit disclosed in Patent No. 1,804,327 dated May 5, 1931.

The operation of the concentration unit circuitand the operators cord lcircuit will be understood from the description in said patent. For convenience these circuits will be briefly described. The equipment at each branch station comprises Va simplexV printer SP', a key-switch K, and a signal relay G. The branch station is connected bya line L to the central station. With the key K in the position illustrated, the line L is grounded through the signal relay Gr and in the other position of the key, the relay G. is disconnected, the line is grounded through the simplex printer and the energizing circuit of the printer operating motor M is completed.

At theV central station, the line L is connected through the line winding of relay C to the line plugs 1, 2, 3, etc.'grigidly located in front of the respective operators. A circuit is normally closed over each line from the central office to the branch offices from the signal battery or generator SB through the winding of line relay A over conductor 31, spring contact arm 32 and contact 33 of relay B, coil 52, line L, contacts 35 of key switch K, conductor 36 and winding of relay G to ground. When the operator at the branch oflice sends a call by lirst shifting the key K to connect the printer and then depressing any key on the printer, thereby momentarily opening Y the line, the relay A will be deenergized and will remain in that condition because of a short y circuit which is completed around its winding through the conductor 36 and its left J with relays D, E and F and with the sim-V plex printer SP?. vThe tip contact nin the `yj ac'k J is connected to the right-.hand tongue lof .re-

K lay E, and the back Contact cooperating with this .ton guefis Vconnected through windingy l14 of :relay D tothe plate'element otatwo-e'lectrode vacuum .tube VT.; Ithe lilament of :the tube being grounded. y@ne ofl the-entra yconf .tacts on jackJ is .connected :to ground, and

the other cooperating extra contact, -is -connected to 'the .tongue of `relay D.` VVind-ing 15 of relay D and tliewindin-gs'of relays E and F 4are.connected inseries ina circuit extending from the contact of relay D 4to ground,.including asource ofcurrent 16. The left-'lrandtongue .of Arelay E is connected tothe tongue .ofrelay D, .and the back contactcooperating with the said tongue of relay'E `isconnected through a busy lamp '17, and :a Source of current 18, :to ground. The contact of ,relay F is included in the motor operating circuit of simplex vprinter ,SP-2,. The operating circuit for this printerextends from .the front .contact of ,they right-hand tongue of relayE through the 'printer-to the soiuce of .operating current OB..

My present invention pro-vides a-,methocl of quickly locating .the `particular operator working .any line. For this 4'purpose .I provide near the message routing rack an `opera-tors lamp bank containing one lamp Ll, L2, L3, etcxtor each .operating position. v Associated with .each lamp is a vkey or switch 48. In circuit with these lamps at each -operating position-there vis located a Akey or switch 44 4and 4a relay 65 which `,cor-rtrols a lamp-45. Y Y Y On .the message routing rack l associate with each. compartment 67 .a busy lamp 10 and a key .or switch. These keys or switches K1., K2, K3, etc.`.are connected in multiple Ito a source of high frequency cur-rent 40. When the .delivery girl .depresses the particular 'key Khlg, etc. .associated with the line for which a message is destined, a fhigh frequency c-urrent is impressed through the line uponthe cord circuit of the operator working .that line and actuates certain apparatus :to cause lamp 45 .at .the operatorls position lto light and .the proper one of `the lampsLl., L 2,L3, etc. in the operators lamp bank to light.l The former lamp warns the operator that more-:business is on the way and thaty she should hold .the

line until it arrives, while the latter lampin- Vmessage from compartment 67, associated with line l, of the routing rack at the message distributing'center. lShe-then depresses key 'K1 which is also associated with `line- -1 and thus lights one of the operator indicating llamps L1, L2, L3, etc.

Assume that operator No. l is working line l. When the delivery'girl depresses key K1 a -circuit isiclosed `from high requencysource 40, through condenser :.to ipoint :5l :on line :1, where the-current ena-y divide between ltwo paths. The path outwardly rover the line envcounters the impedance A.of the Vwinding .A15 oat relay C, which maybe so :designed that it will offer a high impedance to -the frequency current but if a low impedance windingis desired, =a tuned choke iunit may ibe inserted in the -l-iney consisting of inductancez52 and :ca-- pacity15'3 hasni-ng such values as toofter a high impedance to the high ,frequency current while affording a path fof lowfimipedance to the telegraph signals. Y.

Thefother lpath `froniithe point 5l is of low impedance .for the ,hi-gh frequency currents over-the plug `1,'the1tip of ljack J of the cord circuit ofioperator No. l, {the} right-hand are mature `andi-ront -contact of lrelay E, to point 55 where again :there are two paths for this current, one being [through-the .simplex printer 'SP2 and-generator QB to .Vg-round, the .other path. extending through vconductor .56, condenser 57 and condenser 58 v.and inductaaice 60 in parallel to ground at v61. 'Ehe Imagnet windings of printer SP2 are of suclua design as -tooffera high impedance -to thishig-h trequency current. f Y

'The parallel resonant circuit consisting-ot' the condenser 58 and iniductance 160, is tuned to offeraalow impedance to .ther-high frequency current. This-causes `the high requency current 1to apply a potential .to the grid fof vacuum tube 62 which results in anri-ncrease in :the

flow through .the plate 'circuit' from battery 63 .through .the winding :of ,relayed :Gong denser 48, shunted around the winding offgregl, lay 46 smoothsout vthe ,pulsating 4.current in this circuit ftlius causing steady current-,fte iowthroufghthe Winding of rel-ay 46. mq l The` operation yof relay 46 causes theiarngajg ,ture of this relay .to establish Va lcircuitricain generator 64, lthrough key 43' and lampflqgat, the message .distributing center, andmlmyfif and relay 65 at .theoperators position,r rent .flowing lover this -circuit causes dem to glow Yand energizes relay '65. .-llaiejaiglat hand .armature `and contact `of relayfeetahi lishes ,a circuitto lamp L45 thus acantiere-g1I this lamgp to glow.' v i di ino As long as the delivery girl holds key K, in the depressed position, relay 46 will remain in the operated position and lamp L1 will glow brilliantly. When the delivery girl releases key K1 relay 46 becomes deenergized but a circuit is still established from generator 64 through key 43, lamp L1, key 44, re-V lay 65, thence through resistance 66 to ground. Due to the resistance 66 less current flows through this circuit thus causing lamp L1 to glow with diminished brilliancy. However, this decreased current is of suficient value to maintain relay 65 in the energized position. lVhen the delivery girl places the message before the operator, she may depress key 4.4 to open the locking circuit'through relay 65, thereby deenergizing this relay and extinguishing lamps 45 and L1. Depressing the key 43 at the distributing center willralso open this locking circuit thus permitting the delivery clerk to clear out any signals she may have set up unintentionally or through error.

The fact that lamp L1 glows brilliantly only while key K1 is depressed as mentioned in the preceding paragraph permits the operator finder system to be used by a second delivery girl while the first delivery girl is carrying a message or messages to operator No. l. Thus when the second delivery girl causesa lamp to light in the operators lamp bank, she can distinguish this lamp from lamp Ll which is already lighted since the former lamp will glow more brilliantly. ln fact two or more delivery clerks may use the system simultaneously. Thus each girl when depressing one of the keys K1, K2 or K3 could send some particular code and by noting which lamp in the operators lamp bank followed this code she could readily distinguish this lamp from the lamps being actuated by the other two delivery girls. For example, one of the girls could send a series of short impulses with her key, while another could send a series of long impulses, and still another could send a series of short and long impulses.

For the purpose of this description l have illustrated only one concentration unit circuit and one operators cord circuit but it is to be understood that the concentration unit is provided with a circuit for each branch office line and a printer cord circuit for each operators position or turret. I have shown the circuitA arrangement for indicating at some central point the operator who is working any one of a number of busy circuits, as applied to the concentration unit disclosed in said prior Patent No. 1,804,327, but it will be evident to engineers that various modifications and changes may be made within the scope of my invention.

I claim:

y l. In a. telegraph system including lines extending from a plurality of branch stations and terminating in multipled jacks or said jacks or plugs, a signaling device operatively connected to each cord'circuit and manually controlled means located at the distributing center for causing the operation of the signaling device in Vany cord circuit connected ,to a busy line.

2. ln a telegraph system including lines extending from a plurality of branch stations and terminating in multipled acks or plugs at a central station or turrets, a receiviiig'equipment at thecentral station for each line, a pluia-ity of printers each provided with a cord circuit adapted to be connected with'any of'said jacks 4or plugs, a ignaliiig device operatively associatedwith each cord circuit when it is connected to a jack or plug, and means assembled at a particular location for causing the operation of the signaling device associatedwith any cord circuit connected to a line plug or jack.

8. fr cord circuit for'simplex printers comprising in combination with the printer, means adapted tobe connected to multipled line jacks or plugs, a circuit connecting said means to said printer, and means connected to said circuit including a signaling devicev responsive to high frequency currents but unresponsive to telegraph signals.

4. ln a cord circuit as set forth in claim 3, said means responsive to high frequency currents, including a holding circuit and a signaling device.

5. In combination, al printer line terminating in a plurality of multipled contacts located at separate operators positions or turrets at a central station, a plurality of printers at said station each provided withV a cord 7. In a telegraph system including lines extending from a plurality of branchvsta;

' tions and terminating in multipled jacks or plugs at a central station, said jacks or plugs being located at separate operators. positions or turrets, a receiving equipment at the cen- 4 readme.

tral station for each line, a plurality of print-V ers each provided with a cord circuitadapted to be connected Withany of said jacks or plugs, a signaling circuit operatively associated with each cordcircuit including a tlii'erniionic device and a relay, a holding circuit including another relay and a signal device, and manually controlled signal means including a source of high frequency curio rents adapted to be transmitted 'over said cordcircuit When the latter is connected to a jack or plug to thereby impress a potential upon said thermionic device and cause the H operation of said relay and 'signal device.

13 8. In an intercommunication system einbodying a central office and a plurality of branch `ozflices, a line from each branch oilice terminating at the y'central office, circuit ar- M rangements at the central olice permitting ge any of said lines to be Worked 'from any one of a plurality of operators7 positions, a message distributing center, and means at said distributing center for determining from u which operators position any busy line is i5 being Worked. 'Y

'9. In an intercommunication `system embodying .a central -otlice and a plurality of branch otlices having lines terminating there at, :a receiving equipment at the central ze station :for yeac'liline', a .plurality of printers each provided With a cord circuit adapted to be connected to the receiving equipment of any line, 'a signaling device'operatively associated with each cord circuit, indicating TI.) devices `corresponding to leach printer and assembled 'at a particular location, and means for Vcausing the operation of the sig# nalin'g device and the indicator corresponde 'ing t'o any printer connected to a busy line.

i0 In testimony whereof, I a-lix my signature. Y

WILLIAM B. BLANTQN. 

